Assess Me Once, Shame on YouCreating and Assessing a

Continuum of Support for At-Risk Law Students

Courtney G. LeeUniversity of the Pacific McGeorge School of Law

Two Types of Assessment

Course Program

Three Steps of Assessment

See Assessment Clear & Simple, Barbara E. Walvoord

Pacific McGeorge Assessment Continuum

Pacific McGeorge Assessment Continuum

Academic Counseling

Assessment Exercise Example: Relevant Facts

Relevant Fact Why the Fact is Relevant

In the first column, write a relevant fact from the fact pattern. In the second column, write one sentence explaining why that fact is relevant under the applicable rule.

Objectives: Students will demonstrate the ability to choose relevant facts that relate to a specific rule. Students will demonstrate understanding of how logical inferences relate to specific facts in analysis.

Assessment Exercise Example: Relevant Facts

Relevant Fact Why the Fact is Relevant

In the first column, write a relevant fact from the fact pattern. In the second column, write one sentence explaining why that fact is relevant under the applicable rule.

Assessment Exercise Example: Outlining a Performance Test

Tone: Audience: Goal:

Issues Applicable Rules FactsObjectives: Students will demonstrate the ability to effectively outline a large quantity of information within a timed environment. Students will demonstrate the ability to differentiate between relevant and irrelevant information.

Assessment Exercise Example: Outlining a Performance Test

Tone: Audience: Goal:

Issues Applicable Rules Facts

Rubrics

Help students understand what you want

Help students see what they need to improve

Help you normalize your grading & speed up the process

Assessment Exercise Example: Peer Review with RubricObjectives: Students will demonstrate the ability to see positive and negative attributes of others’ work. (Future assignments: Students will demonstrate the ability to apply this understanding to their own work.)

Program Assessment: Data to Consider

Entering credentials (LSAT, UGPA)

1L grades, 2L grades, 3-4L grades (improvement?)

Bar pass

Student opinion: Is the program working? LSSSE, student course evaluations, focus groups,

individual meetings

Professors’ course evaluations: Are the students “getting it”?

Experiential learning supervisors’ evaluations

Program Assessment: Avoiding Pitfalls

Voluntary programs: Track students who participated and those who were invited but did not participate

Keep one centralized system & one main “keeper of the system” Excel? Banner? Etc. Registrar?

Hold regular meetings to debrief

A Few Resources…

Assessment Clear and Simple (Walvoord)

Legal Analysis: 100 Exercises for Mastery (Hill, Vukadin)

Outcomes Assessment for Law Schools (Munro)

Teaching Law by Design (Schwartz, Sparrow, Hess)

Questions?